Matthew 25 Management Corp Lowers Holdings in Apple Inc. $AAPL

Matthew 25 Management Corp lowered its stake in shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 57,500 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock after selling 4,000 shares during the quarter. Apple makes up approximately 4.8% of Matthew 25 Management Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Matthew 25 Management Corp’s holdings in Apple were worth $15,632,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Reyes Financial Architecture Inc. now owns 9,898 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $2,520,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. WESPAC Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. WESPAC Advisors LLC now owns 12,326 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,351,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. American Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. American Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 1,151 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Seven Springs Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Seven Springs Wealth Group LLC now owns 15,451 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $3,934,000 after purchasing an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Avant Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Apple by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Avant Capital LLC now owns 4,814 shares of the iPhone maker’s stock worth $1,226,000 after purchasing an additional 43 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 67.73% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AAPL. Jefferies Financial Group set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Robert W. Baird set a $310.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group set a $296.00 price objective on shares of Apple and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Apple in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective (up from $350.00) on shares of Apple in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Apple currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $310.31.

Apple News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Apple this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investor optimism is building ahead of WWDC, with Apple expected to unveil key AI features that could improve Siri and strengthen its software ecosystem. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Apple’s MacBook Neo is reportedly gaining traction with new buyers, suggesting the company is still expanding its hardware appeal beyond its core customer base. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts have been lifting targets on AAPL ahead of WWDC, reflecting confidence that Apple’s AI strategy and software roadmap could reaccelerate growth. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: New Apple Wallet bill-splitting and payment-request features may help deepen engagement, but the immediate stock impact is less clear because the move is incremental rather than transformative. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Apple is being discussed as a potentially overvalued stock after its recent rally, which could limit upside if WWDC disappoints expectations. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Dell and Nvidia have intensified competition in PCs and laptops, pressuring Apple’s positioning in hardware categories like the MacBook Neo. Article Title

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Deirdre O’brien sold 30,002 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.35, for a total transaction of $7,661,010.70. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 136,810 shares in the company, valued at $34,934,433.50. This trade represents a 17.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Timothy D. Cook sold 64,949 shares of Apple stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $254.23, for a total transaction of $16,511,984.27. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 3,280,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $833,980,668.14. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 97,759 shares of company stock valued at $24,964,305. 0.06% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Apple Trading Up 2.9%

Apple stock opened at $315.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $276.58 and a 200 day moving average of $270.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.09. Apple Inc. has a 12-month low of $195.07 and a 12-month high of $315.45. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.70.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The iPhone maker reported $2.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.95 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $111.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $109.46 billion. Apple had a net margin of 27.15% and a return on equity of 146.69%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Apple Inc. will post 8.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Apple Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Monday, May 11th were issued a $0.27 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 11th. This represents a $1.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. This is a positive change from Apple’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.26. Apple’s payout ratio is currently 13.06%.

Apple Profile

Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) is a multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, founded in 1976 by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne. The company designs, develops and sells consumer electronics, software and services. Over its history Apple has evolved from personal computers to a broad portfolio that spans mobile devices, wearables, home entertainment and digital services.

Apple’s principal hardware products include the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet, Mac personal computers, Apple Watch wearable devices and a range of accessories such as AirPods and HomePod.